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The Residence Life department is one of the most criticized departments on campus, mainly because students spend most of their time here on campus in the residence halls. We can’t do much about some of the criticism of their experiences living in the residence halls. For example, according to the Educational Benchmarking, Inc. (EBI) surveys that we conduct every year with our residents, dining services and timeliness of repairs are some of the residents’ main concerns about living in the residence halls. However, there are a few things that our department can certainly improve in, and communication with residents is one of those things. According to our EBI survey results, a few of the residents’ main concerns have to do with communication between residents and residence hall staff members. For example, the greatest negative statistically significant difference between our data and our select 6 institutes’ data (colleges that we selected who are closest in profile with our university) is for the following question: “How satisfied are you with your student staff member on your floor regarding efforts to get to know you.” Of the top ten questions with the greatest negative statistically significant differences for our university as compared to our select 6 institutes, eight have to do with the interaction between residents and residence hall staff members. Some other examples of questions we didn’t score very well on are: “How satisfied are you with your student staff member on your floor regarding communicating rules and regulations?” (On a scale of 1-7) “How satisfied are you with your student staff member on your floor regarding availability.” INTRODUCTION Currently, the Residence Life department has no social media accounts. I’d like to take a look at Residence Life departments at other universities and see how they are using social media to form better connections with their residents. I’d also like to see if there is any data out there that shows an improvement in residents’ satisfaction with their universities’ Residence Life departments after the implementation of social media as a way for residence hall staff members and their residents to communicate and interact. My objectives are: 1) Survey residents and Residential Advisors in all dorms and ask if forging a connection through social media will help build a stronger and more effective partnership between residents and residential advisors. 2) Set up appropriate social media accounts (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) as a way for Residence Hall staff members to forge connections with their residents 3) Use social media accounts as a way for residents to communicate their concerns, feedback, and so forth with specific dorm staff members. 4) See an improvement in the data from the 2011-2012 EBI Residents surveys as compared to the data from the 2010- 2011 EBI Residents surveys. 5) Conduct a survey at the end of the 2012 Spring Semester to see if the use of social media has impacted the effectiveness of the partnership between residents and residential advisors. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS Our intended results are: 1)A thriving dorm community in which residents and residential advisors keep in touch through social media and in-person contact. 2)An improvement in the data from the 2011-2012 EBI surveys as compared to the data from the 2010-2011 EBI surveys. 3)Results from the end of the Spring 2012 semester survey showing that residents see an improvement in the effectiveness of the partnership between residents and the Residence Life department. INTENDED RESULTS SAMPLE OF SURVEY QUESTIONS The following are some sample questions I plan to ask: 1)Do you want to see the Residence Life department set up a presence on a social media network? 2)Which social media network would be most appropriate for the Residence Life department? 3)Would you use the Residence Life’s social media page as a way to keep informed about Residence Halls policies and procedures? 4)Would you be willing to keep in touch with your Resident Advisor through a social media website? REFERENCES Lytle, Ryan. 2011. Imagining College Life Without Social Media. US News and World Report. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/best- colleges/articles/2011/10/28/imagining-college-life- without-social-media http://www.usnews.com/education/best- colleges/articles/2011/10/28/imagining-college-life- without-social-media Klamm, Dan. 2011. Six Best Practices for Universities Embracing Social Media. Mashable Social Media. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/10/10/universities-social- media/http://mashable.com/2011/10/10/universities-social- media/ Barnes, Nora and Lescault, Ava. 2011. Social Media Adoption Soars as Higher-Ed Experiments and Reevaluates Its Use of New Communications Tools. UMass Dartmouth. Retrieved from http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesandresearch/socialme diaadoptionsoars/ Cabellon, Ed. 2011. Residence Life 2.0: Community Building. Prezi. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/5jsa8v_brz12/residence-life-20- community-building-through-social-media/ http://prezi.com/5jsa8v_brz12/residence-life-20- community-building-through-social-media/ Jesse Saunders, Student Success Learning Community member Social Media and the Residence Life Department RESEARCH QUESTION Based on the information gathered, my proposed research question is to look into the use of social media (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) as a way to establish a better and stronger interaction between the Residence Life department and the residents of our residence halls. “How satisfied are you with your student staff member on your floor regarding efforts to get to know you.” “How satisfied are you with your student staff member on your floor regarding gaining your respect.” “How satisfied are you with your student staff member on your floor regarding helping with a problem.” SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION A recent study done at Johnson and Wales University revealed that 68% of students spend more than 6 hours on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter daily. Only 12% of students spend less than 2 hours on social media websites daily. Other studies mirror the same results which is that today’s college students are hooked on social media websites. The question now is not whether we should use social media to reach out to college students, but how well we can use it. The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth has conducted studies over the past few school years to determine how many universities were using social media as a way to reach out to prospective and current students. In 2007-2008, 61% of universities reported some usage of social media. In the most recent study done in 2010-2011, 100% of universities reported the use of social media. Facebook is the most common social media website used with 98% of universities using it. Twitter is the 2 nd most popular social media website with 84% of universities using it. Some schools experience great success with the use of social media websites but others struggle to get their efforts off the ground. Some of the strategies that schools have found to be effective include: 1)Develop a strategy and set goals. 2)Pick and choose a platform. 3) Bring together people through already existing communities online. 4) If using Facebook, pick between a user page, group page, fan page and update often. 5) Write about things that people ask your department about often. 6) Allow Residential Advisors to build a relationship with residents through social media.